2023 Vermont Infrastructure Report Card
2023 Report Card GPA: C
Members of the Vermont section of the American Society of Civil Engineers volunteered to produce the 2023 Report Card for Vermont’s Infrastructure. This report serves to educate the public on the status of the infrastructure in the state of Vermont. Residents, in conjunction with elected officials, can therefore better prioritize limited funding among competing, connected needs to improve the condition, capacity, operations, maintenance, safety, innovation, and resilience of infrastructure.
Overall, Vermont’s infrastructure gets a ‘C’, the same as the 2019 report card. Progress is real, but challenges remain. Vermont has some of the oldest infrastructure in the country. Substantial maintenance backlogs have accrued in several areas as recent investment runs into new challenges such as inflation, shortage of a trained workforce, and a deficit of resiliency to withstand climate change.
Since the previous report card, legislative support for infrastructure, public agency planning, and influx of COVID-19 pandemic relief funds deployed amid historic challenges. Vermont allocated federal pandemic funds to the water, sewer, and wastewater sectors in addition to other economic development and climate change mitigation measures. Congressional support was also used to expand Vermont’s broadband infrastructure, a critical need in a rural state, the lack of which impacted people forced to learn and work from home during the public health emergency.
Dollars brought in through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provide ways to create tangible improvements in the status of several categories of infrastructure assets. However, maintenance and related slowdowns during the pandemic also set some sectors back. Aviation raised to a ‘C’: recent upgrades have been focused on airport capacity, including the expansion of the Burlington International Airport (BTV) apron and the construction of a 37,000-sf addition to the terminal building. Safety upgrades included BTV terminal and airfield access control system rehabilitation, perimeter fence installation at various state airports, and removal of obstructions at all airports. Bridges climbed to ‘B-.’ In the last few years, the number of poor condition bridges in Vermont has decreased to 2.4% of the inventory – down from 5% in 2017 and well below the national average. Roads stayed at ‘C+,’ but Vermont experienced a surge in traffic deaths, which increased every year since the 2019 report card – doubling from 0.64 to 1.2 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
COVID-19 also transformed how people use infrastructure, and how it is managed, along with what funding was available. The temporary influx of funding provided a boost, but the state’s infrastructure needs continue to pose a challenge as is reflected in lowered grades across multiple sectors as compared to the 2019 levels. Aging infrastructure has led to failed wastewater treatment systems, and combined sewer overflows. Global supply chain issues have impacted the progress of project implementation across multiple sectors and shortages in a trained workforce are especially challenging the resilience of a small rural state like Vermont to meet the needs of its residents.
Read the executive summary here.